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These Almond Bars are thin crispy bar cookies with an unexpected combination of cinnamon, almonds, and lemon! A crunchy contrast for your next cookie platter!
I adore opportunities to do something stunning in very few steps. However, sometimes heritage cookbooks struggle to keep it simple. What they lack in brevity, they make up for in flavor, and so I often find it totally worth the deep dive! This heritage cookbook inspired Almond Bars recipe is an excellent example!
Maida Heatter loves a good, lengthy recipe, but despite the wordiness, she’s never let me down. I used her recipe from the Book of Great Cookies as a base to develop what has become these crunchy almond bars!
Originally, I shared this recipe as a part of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies 2021, and so I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you to complete your cookie platter with some other old-fashioned favorites! Linzer Cookies, Homemade Speculoos Cookies, and Pfeffernüsse Cookies would all be fabulous places to continue the trend.
Table of Contents
Why you will love these almond bars:
- Unique & unexpected: These crunchy bar cookies are a tiny bit of extra effort but a delightful change of pace with their lovely lemon, cinnamon, and toasted almond combination.
- Old-fashioned charm: Baked goods that could have been made by your grandmother or great-grandmother have an easy nostalgia to them, and this almond dessert serves just that!
- A fabulous cookie platter: Almond bars offer the ideal crunchy texture to balance out your chewy faves like Peanut Butter M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies, Lemon Pudding Cookies, and Perfect Chewy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, with the added bonus of a delicate flavor profile.
Ingredients
- Almonds: I use blanched, slivered almonds in this recipe. Slivered almonds layer nicely on top of the cookie crust!
- Butter: I use unsalted butter for baking, because you want to control the amount of salt you are adding. Every brand is different and it makes adjusting the recipe a challenge.
- Cinnamon: I use Saigon cinnamon but any cinnamon will do.
- Sugar: I use granulated sugar in these almond bars. It is here for the more obvious flavor reasons, but also to retain moisture, improve texture, and maintain stability.
- Whole Egg: The egg is here to add fat and moisture. Eggs also help to keep everything texturally perfect.
- All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to measure your flour by fluffing it up in the bag then spooning it into a measuring cup. Level it off with a knife. Be careful not to tap or compress the flour. Not measuring flour correctly might lead to a dry cookie crust.
- Kosher Salt: Kosher salt is less salty than table salt and a teaspoon weighs less than other finer ground varieties. It heightens the flavor here and will keep your bar cookies from tasting dull or flat.
- Confectioner’s Sugar: Confectioner’s sugar is used in glazes and frostings because it is ground finely into a powder (hence its powdered sugar nickname). This allows it to create a smooth, silky glaze without having to be heated.
- Water: Water loosens the glaze just enough.
- Lemon Juice: Lemon juice is the flavor in your almond bar glaze! My motto for citrus juices is that fresh is always best.
If you must use store-bought lemon juice, try to find a frozen option that is frozen fresh juice. Sometimes lemon juice can also be found in the refrigerator section. If it looks dark in color, then it is no longer going to taste fresh.
Variations
- Different spice combos: Let the season be your guide! Replace the cinnamon with an easy Apple Pie Spice Mix or Pumpkin Spice Recipe in the autumn and follow it up with a Speculoos Spice Mix in the winter.
- Experiment with glazes: Sky’s the limit with glaze possibilities! Why not a cherry brandy glaze, like on my Cherry Almond Pound Cake? Or go all-in with almond and make an easy almond glaze from confectioner’s sugar, almond extract and milk like on my Peach Loaf Cake!
- Break Apart: You can also let them cool completely and break them apart like chocolate bark! This is also a good fix if you do happen to let your bars cool too much for perfect slices.
Substitutions
- Nuts: I like to use almonds because that’s what Maida used, but you should use whichever nuts are your favorite! Just chop them finely and don’t skip the egg white step as a binder! If almonds aren’t your thing, you could also consider adding a shredded coconut topping!
- Lemon juice: If you don’t have lemons on hand, it is possible to substitute the lemon juice for a different citrus. Just be sure to taste for sweetness and adjust accordingly, because you want the glaze to offer a slightly tart balance to the sweetness of the bar cookie.
- Gluten-free: Substitute gluten free flour for the all-purpose to make these gluten free. I use Cup for Cup brand both at home and professionally.
How to Make Almond Bars
Use these instructions to make the perfect Almond Bars every time! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Prepare pan:
Step 1: Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with criss-crossed parchment paper. A metal dish will produce a more evenly crisp bar bottom. You could also use a jelly roll pan.
Step 2: Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Make bars & glaze:
Step 1: In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter. Add the sugar and cinnamon and beat to mix well. Beat in the egg yolk, but reserve the white. Reduce your mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour and salt. Mix until combined.
Step 2: Press your dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. You will want to spread and press the dough into the dish with your hands, and try to get it as even as possible. {But don’t try too hard. No one will see.}
Use your hands to press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. Does it need to be perfect? No. But, a more even spread of dough will produce a more even crunch to your bars!
Step 3: In a small bowl, beat or whisk the egg white until it is foamy. Use a pastry brush to brush the top of the dough with the whisked egg white. Spread all the almonds over the top of the egg white. Press them down a little so they will slightly adhere.
Step 4: Bake the bars in the preheated oven until golden brown. Mine took about 30 minutes.
Step 5: In a bowl, make the glaze by whisking together the melted butter, water, lemon juice, and confectioner’s sugar. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the warm bars! You can spread it evenly with an offset spatula if it pools in areas.
Tip: Keep the glaze moving so it doesn’t pool. One way to do this is to create a pattern like a sine wave, and then go back across in the same pattern, filling in the gaps.
Step 6: Cool the bars for 20-25 minutes and then cut them into pieces. I find a serrated knife useful here. Allow your bars to cool completely on a wire rack, and enjoy!
Chef Lindsey’s Recipe Tip
Be sure to cut the bars while they are still slightly warm with a serrated (bread) knife. This will make the cleanest slices. As they cool they start to crisp up!
Recipe Tips
- Use a metal pan: A metal baking dish or jelly roll pan will produce a more evenly crisp cookie bottom for your bars.
- Use slivered almonds: The first time I made this recipe, I almost accidentally used chopped almonds instead of slivered almonds. Chopped almonds would have produced a different topping texture. If you’re in a bind, sliced almonds are possible to use as well, the biggest difference being that they are not blanched.
- Bake until golden brown: The baking really works to meld the flavors together. It also toasts the nuts on top just a little, and gives your bar bottom a pleasant crunch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store these bar cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature or frozen. These will keep 2 weeks at room temperature or 2 months frozen.
There is no need to chill this dough before baking. Just assemble and pop your almond bars in the oven.
You can assemble and bake these bars ahead! The bars can be sliced and frozen for up to two months!
You are only limited by the size of your mixer, and how many pans and ovens you have.
You can freeze almond bars! An easy way to thaw them is to put them on the counter overnight.
These bars ship okay. Package them with tissue paper as padding so they don’t crash about in the tin. They will arrive with minimal breakage. Cutting them larger will help.
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Almond Bars
Ingredients
For the Bars:
- 1 ⅓ cups blanched slivered almonds
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg separated
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
Prepare pan:
- Line a 9×13 inch baking dish with criss-crossed parchment paper. A metal dish will produce a more evenly crisp bar bottom. You could also use a jelly roll pan.
Make bars:
- Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream the butter. Add the sugar and cinnamon and beat to mix well. Beat in the egg yolk, but reserve the white.
- Reduce your mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour and salt. Mix until combined.
- Press your dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. You will want to spread and press the dough into the dish with your hands, and try to get it as even as possible. {But don’t try too hard. No one will see.}
- In a small bowl, beat or whisk the egg white until it is foamy. Use a pastry brush to brush the top of the dough with the whisked egg white. Spread all the almonds over the top of the egg white. Press them down a little so they will slightly adhere.
- Bake the bars in the preheated oven until golden brown. Mine took about 30 minutes. A minute or so before removing the bars from the oven, mix the glaze.
Make the glaze:
- In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, water, lemon juice, and confectioner’s sugar.
Assemble & enjoy:
- Drizzle the glaze over the top of the warm bars! You can spread it evenly with an offset spatula if it pools in areas.
- Cool the bars for 20-25 minutes and then cut them into pieces. I find a serrated knife useful here. Allow your bars to cool completely on a wire rack, and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Before you go!
I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed cookies recipes!
